Improvement in devices for opening and closing hatchway-doors



J. J. LAOEY. Device for Opening and Closing Hatohway-Doors.

No. 205,I92. Patented June 25,1878.

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I L 11 ii I! dfiwses WI fiewzz or N. PEIERS, PHOTOL\THOGRAPHER.WASHINGTON D c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. LACEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR OPENING AND CLOSING HATCHWAY-DOORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,192, dated June 25,1378; application filed March 28, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. LACEY, of the city and county of SanFrancisco, in the State rangement for automatically opening and closinghatchway-doors by the movement of the elevator platform or cage.

I arrange the doors to slide to and from each other underneath thefloor, and meet at a point midway across the hatchwayopening when theyare closed. The apparatus for opening the doors on the approach of theelevator cage or platform and closing them after it has passed throughtheir opening is so arranged that the doors are opened by the approachof the cage from either direction, and stand open until ithas passedthrough between them, after which they are closed automatically, all ashereinafter more fully described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a transversesectional elevation. Fig. 2 is an elevation. Fig. 3is a plan, showin gthe arrangements of the pulleys and ropes.

Let Arepresent one of the floors of a building, through whichhatehway-opening, B, is made to allow an elevator cage or platform topass through. C C are the upright guidetimbers between which the cage orplatform moves, and D is the platform or cage. The hatehway-opening B, Iclose by means of two horizontally-slidin g doors, E E, which meetmidway across the opening B when closed, and which, move back underneaththe floor when opened. To support these sliding doors I secure twotimbers, F F, to the under side of the floor, parallel with each other,one on each side of the hatehway-opening, and these timbers extend to adistance on each side of the opening, as represented. Each of thesetimbers is provided with aledge or groove, g, close to the under side ofthe floor, in which the opposite edges of the doors E E rest and move,so that the two timbers, with their grooves, form a supporting-track'forthe edges of the sliding doors to move and be guided in.

The mechanism for operating the sliding door on one side of the openingis constructed and operated in precisely the same manner as that whichoperates the door on the opposite side; and as each door and itsoperating mechanism is independent of the door and mechanism on theopposite side, I will only describe the arrangement for opening andclosing one of the doors.

To the under side of the door, near each outer edge, I secure a rack, h,parallel with the timbers F F. A shaft, I, extends across from onetimber, F, to the other, below the outer end of the door when it isclosed, the ends of said shaft being supported in boxes on the underside of the timbers. On this shaft I secure two pinions, k k, one inposition to engage with each rack h. On one end of this shaft I, outsideof the timber F, is a pulley, l.

m is a four-grooved pulley, the journals of which are supported insuitable bearings close to the upright guide-timber C on that side.

0 is a combined pulley and pinion, which is secured on a spindle, p,which projects from the side of the guide-timber F a short distancebelow the floor; and 0 is a similar combined pulley and pinion,similarly mounted at the same distance above the floor. A belt, q,passes around the pulley l, thence passes in one direction over pulleym, and thence down around pulley 0. Another belt, q, passes aroundpulley Z, thence in one direction under pulley m, and thence up aroundpulley 0.

The pulleys o and o are constructed with the pulley part on their outerends and the pinion on their inner ends. A toothed rack, r, is securedto the cage or platform-frame in position to engage with the toothedpart of the pulleys 0 0 when the cage moves past them, and the pulleys 00 are placed far enough above and below the doors E E to allow this rackto engage and disengage itself at the proper time to prevent any contactbetween the door and cage.

As before stated, the devices which operate the sliding doors on oneside are the same as those which operate the doors on the opposite side,so that the two doors are opened and closed simultaneously. The rackswhich operate these two doors can both be placed on one side of theelevator-frame, or they can be placedon opposite sides. In the lattercase the pulleys and belts must be arranged to correspond.

Now, as the platform moves upward between the guides O O, the racks rengage with the pinion part of the pulleys 0 just before the top of itsframe strikes the under 'side of the doors. The doors are then openedfrom the middle as the platform-frame rises between them until they arefully opened, when the rack 7' passes pulley 0, leaving the doors openuntil the platform passes through, after which the racks r engage withthe pulley-pinions 0 above the doors, and the doors are graduallyclosed.

' The rotation of the lower pulley 0 as the platform ascends causes theshaft I to rotate, and its pinions k 70 therefore move the rack 72;- hand doors in an opposite direction so as to open the doors. The upperpulleys 0 are rotated in an opposite direction when the platform movespast them in its ascent, thus rotating shaft I in an opposite directionand closing the doors behind it. As the platform descends the operationof the pulleys 0 o are reversed, and the doors open and close in thesame manner as above described.

slides or .door is more uniform and free; I shall also applya dog on theside of the cage, one above and the other below the rack, so that if theteeth of pulley and rack are out of position the dogs will set thepulley to correspond.

Various methods of arranging the ropes,

pulleys, pinions, and racks could be applied, in order to open and closethe sliding doors automatically by the movement of the platform; buttheir arrangement would be equivalent to that above described.

This arrangement for opening and closing hatehway-doors is simple andconvenient. It is out of the way, is not cumbersome or unsightly, and ispositive in its action.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-- t The sliding hatchway-doors E E, supported inthe grooves g g, and provided with one or more racks, h, the shaft I,with its p'inions k k and pulley l, the intermediate pulley m, and

the combined pulleys and pinions o ,0, connected by belts q q, incombination with the racks r on the carriage or platform, the wholecombined and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seaL- y I JOHN J.LAOEY. [L. 8.] Witnesses:

W. F. CLARK, J. V. DE VRY.

